Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.onetwentysixfive.com/sermons/48226/2-thessalonians-31-5/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] So 2 Thessalonians in chapter 3 beginning at verse 1, he says, Finally brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith.

[0:21] But the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil and we have confidence in the Lord touching you that he both do and will do the things which we command you and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.

[0:42] We'll stop reading the passage right there. I said just five short verses here in the third chapter of 2 Thessalonians, but he begins this passage after he's written two chapters worth.

[0:56] He begins this passage with, Finally brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. Again, he says, Finally brethren, pray for us after he's written two chapters worth of content to these Thessalonian believers.

[1:14] He says, Finally pray for us as if this may be the last thing that he ever writes to the Thessalonian church. He's not asking that they send him money.

[1:25] He's not asking that they do any number of things that Paul could have asked them for. He says, Finally brethren, pray for us. He's asking for the prayers of God's people and folks, it's not just that he asked for the prayers, but he gives what specifically to pray for that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. He wants the Thessalonian church to pray for them, pray for Paul, and pray for Tumotius, and pray for Silvanus, these men that are with him as they're out on their missionary journeys, as they're preaching the word of God, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, going about these various places and presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of salvation, the power of God to these people that they're coming into contact with. He says, Pray for us at the word of God that it might, they might have free course, in other words, that it might go quickly under these people, that we can get quickly under these places to present the word of God. Pray for us, church at Thessalonica, that these things can be done, that the word of God can go forth, it can accomplish that which God has set it out to do.

[2:44] Folks, the word of God will never go out and return void. The word of God will go out and it will accomplish the very purpose that God intends for it to do, regardless of if it's a meeting with just a few people, or if it's a meeting with a few thousand people. The word of God will go out, it will convict hearts, it'll show people their state, it'll show them the condition that they're in, both saved and lost to lack. The word of God should grow those which are saved closer under God, and it should grow those that are not saved to the altars, to God to seek forgiveness, to seek salvation, that the word of God is able to bring. We can be cleansed by the word of God, we can be healed by the word of God, we can be kept by the word of God. The word of God is instruction for those that are saved and it is what must go out, it is what must be preached and one of the others can be saved.

[3:52] And Paul says, pray for us. This is pretty much the last request that he's making to these believers. He says, pray for us. He could have asked for a hundred different things from this church, and I'm sure that these believers would have went out of their way to have provided him with all 100 of those things that he could have asked for, but he has one simple request for them.

[4:16] Pray for us, pray that the word of God has a free course that it can go out. He says that the word of God has free course and be glorified even as it is with you. He's telling these believers here, hey, we're preaching the same word that you heard us preach there, we're preaching the same word that brought you under God. We are preaching the same Jesus, the same gospel, and the same good news that brought you under salvation. Where the Bible says that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God under salvation. He's telling them, hey, even as it is with you, even as they brought you under God, we are preaching the same gospel so that you can have more brothers and more sisters in Christ Jesus. And he's simply saying, pray for us, pray for us that this might happen, pray for us that we can stay on the road, that we can continue spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, spreading the good news of forgiveness of sin, spreading the good news that God has given us so that we can continue in the commission, the same commission that brought us to you at the Salonica. It's the same commission we're asking you to pray for that we go out and spread the gospel unto others. But he says, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. He's saying, he's saying it's been glorified with you. You've taken heed to this word, so pray for us that others may take heed and others may glorify with you. Verse 2, he says, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith, that we not be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. So he's adding to this prayer request, pray for us that we can preach, pray for us that the word of God go forth and pray for us, that we can be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. Folks, that tells me it is no different now than it was back in Paul's day. It is no different now with the unreasonable and the wicked man and the wicked population. It is no different now than it was then. And Paul is saying, preach not only that we can get the word of God out there, but that we can be delivered from these that seek to persecute us. We can be delivered from these that seek to hinder the spread of the gospel, that don't want the word of God to have its pre-course. These unreasonable and these wicked men are after us.

[7:07] Hey, Paul had his share of contact with people like that, and most of it was from his own people, from his own race, the Jewish people. They would come after him when he went into the cities and he went to preach.

[7:21] They would cause mobs of people to come after him. They would laugh, they would cheat, they would do whatever they had to to stop the word of God from having its pre-course.

[7:35] And Paul's saying, pray that we can be delivered from these. Pray that we can be delivered from these men. Folks, we need prayers now, not just for the preachers. We need prayers for the people of God in general, that we be delivered from the unreasonable and the wicked men. I say it necessarily, that we be delivered, that we be delivered from the strife, and we be delivered from possible physical abuse of some kind, from mental abuse sometimes, but for the same purpose that Paul was wanting, that the word of God goes out. But pray that the people of God, when they go to present the gospel, that God deliver them from these unreasonable people, from these people that refuse to hear the truth of the word of God, pray that God delivers his own people from the bondage and from the hindrance and from the mockery of these others, of the unreasonable and the wicked, that do not want to see the word of God go forth.

[8:46] Pray for these folks. Folks, I know exactly what it's like from personal experience to be entered by such things. I know what it's like to not have liberty when you preach. I know what it's like to walk into a church house sometimes and get behind the pulpit and not feel an ounce of liberty in there. I know exactly how that feels, folks, and it's hard to preach the word when you feel that way. The Bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

[9:15] Hey, that tells me these places that I've gone to, these pulpits that I've stood in, that I've opened the word of God and tried to present it as best I could.

[9:26] That tells me there wasn't a bit more spirit in those people, in those churches, in those houses, wherever it was. There was no spirit in them because there was no liberty to testify of the Spirit. And Paul here says, pray that we be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. How many times we read in Acts of wicked men and unreasonable men coming after Paul? Paul preached one message.

[9:57] Jesus crossed and Him crucified. He preached it over and over. He preached it to the Gentiles. He preached it to the Jews. But nevertheless, it always caused some kind of ruckus.

[10:08] Wherever Paul went, there was somebody that came against it. I know that he went some places, not only him, but Peter and the rest of the apostles as well. I know they went places and there were thousands of people got saved. There were multitudes of people that heard the message and came to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ drew them but through His Word. I understand that they happened, but there were also unreasonable and wicked men there that wanted nothing to do with it. They would rather have what they wanted as have what God was offering any day.

[10:45] This is the people that Paul was saying, pray God that He deliver us from these. We need the same deliverance from the same types of people, from the same types. There's people out there right now trying to quash the Word of God, trying to say the Word of God contradicts itself, trying to make believers doubt, trying to make unbelievers doubt even more. There are people like this, they are wicked and they are unreasonable. How are they unreasonable?

[11:18] I'll tell you how because God give every one of us a conscience. God give every one of us a conscience and they hear the Word of God and what does the Spirit of God do? It whispers to their conscience.

[11:31] It whispers to their heart. It says this is truth. What this man appears preaching, it is absolute truth. What this man has taught, it is absolute truth.

[11:41] And that holy ghost of God, it shows them that and the unreasonableness of men says it can't be true. This can't be the case. Hey, I was in that boat at one time when I didn't believe what I heard preach and I didn't believe what I heard talk. I was in that very boat at one time.

[11:59] But praise God, God didn't give up on me. God continued to chase after me. He chased me to every hill hole that I ever was a part of, that I ever went to. Chased me through every sin that I committed.

[12:12] Chased me through every blasphemy that I ever committed against him. God chased me through every bit of that except because he wanted me, he looked down at all my wickedness and all of my sin and said, that boy there is going to preach my word one of these days. Hallelujah. He preached there. He chased me through every bit of that. Folks, I was unreasonable when I was wicked.

[12:41] I was evil at one time. I was one of the most unreasonable people you've ever met. But God changed that. But Paul says, pray to God. He says, pray for us at the word of God my happy record. And he says, pray for pray to God for us that we can be delivered from these unreasonable and these wicked man. We need the same types of prayers from God's people today for the same reasons, for the same reasons. Verse three, but the Lord is faithful. Praise God. What a contrast. What a contrast it says that we may be delivered from the unreasonable and wicked man for all men have not faith.

[13:20] The very next few words, but the Lord is faithful. All men have not faith. Hopes and that's why men act the way that they do. That's why the wicked are wicked. That's why the unreasonable are unreasonable.

[13:33] That's why the evil is evil. That's why the sinful is sinful. That's why the drunk is a drunk. That's why the prostitute's a prostitute. That's why the drughead is the drughead because not all men have faith.

[13:45] They don't all have faith. But God is faithful. God is ever faithful. Praise his name. God has been faithful from the get go. He'll be faithful right now and he'll be faithful on into the future. My God is faithful when men are faithless. My God is ever faithful.

[14:04] His faithfulness to his people is everlasting. That's why he could say he will be with us always even to the end. Hallelujah. And he has been. He has been for me and he will be for me. But his word is true. God is true.

[14:22] The Bible says let God be true in every man of life. Some men have not the faith. Some men have not faith. But God is faithful. God is faithful. Who shall establish you and keep you from evil? In other words, God is faithful and he will establish you and he will keep you from the evil and he will do these things because he is faithful. Men make promises all the time that they can't keep.

[14:51] Women make promises all the time that we can't keep. People in general, humans in general, we make promises all the time. Even if we break a promise that we never had any intentions of breaking.

[15:02] Yes, sure, I'll be there at seven o'clock. Something happens. We can't make it by seven o'clock. Hey, that's breaking a promise that we made to somebody. And it may have even been unintentional. My God cannot do that. My God is ever faithful. He's never been late for anything. He's never told a lie.

[15:20] He's never done any such thing. My God is faithful and he will be faithful under the very end of this thing. He'll be faithful all throughout eternity. He is faithful to his people whereas men, not all men have faith.

[15:35] Hey, my God, he is faithful to his people. He will not let us down. He cannot let us down because the Bible says that he cannot let us down.

[15:46] He will be with us always even to the end. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, I am the Lord. I change.

[15:56] Not praise God. That's my God. I'm preaching about hallelujah. He's faithful for all men have not the faith. I wish that wasn't the case.

[16:09] I wish that wasn't the case, but all men have not the faith. The Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil.

[16:19] He says that we may be delivered from these types of people. Even the Lord's prayer says that, don't it? It says, deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen. Deliver us from evil. Deliver us from evil people as well. Deliver us from their evil plans.

[16:39] Folks, their time's coming. Their time's coming. You're reading Micah, I believe it's Micah chapter 2. It talks about those that make perverse plans while they're on their bed. They make plans while they're in their bed. In the morning arises, they continue on with those plans. They execute those plans. Those people have got their time coming.

[17:04] Those people have got their time coming. Liz and I were talking before service tonight. There's a whole world of people out there. They have a very false representation in their mind of whom God is. They think that God is letting them get by with their sin, so God must be all right with them. No, God's being merciful with them.

[17:25] God's being graceful with them. God's being true to his word and doing that. But it's not that God is all right with them. It's not that God is all right with their sin. God cannot deal with their...

[17:40] God cannot put up with sin. God cannot tolerate sin. He will not tolerate sin. God put your sin and my sin on his son Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin became sin for us.

[17:54] He who had no God was ever found in his mouth. Never even had a bad thought about another person that he wasn't justified in having. Now listen, I understand what Jesus said to some of the Pharisees and some of the crowds, but Jesus Christ was completely justified and everything that he told them, all he told them was the truth when he said, hey, you might have on the outside look as a white and purple girl, but inside you're nothing more than dead men's bones. He was justified when he said that John the Baptist was justified when he told the same group of people, who are you, boppers? Who are you? You've been on the stakes?

[18:35] Who are you that can't hold you to plead the wrath to come? Yeah, they were all justified in saying those things. Those things went out as warnings. They went out as warnings to those people to whom that it was said, but all men have no faith, but the Lord is faithful and he will establish you and he will keep you from evil.

[19:01] People say he will keep me from evil. Why do I experience evil? Why does evil come against me if God's going to keep me from it? God will keep us from evil. He will keep us from these things.

[19:14] Paul, again, you can use all kinds of examples of Paul. Paul, man was shipwrecked, man was scourged, the man was whipped, he was beat, he was in the deep, he was...

[19:27] All kinds of things happen to Paul. All kinds of things. But what did Jesus say about Paul? I believe it's in Acts chapter 9. He said, I must show him the things he will suffer for my name's sake. For my name's sake, Paul went on in the Book of Acts. He said it's through much persecution and much tribulation. I'm sorry that we must enter into the kingdom of God.

[19:50] It's through much tribulation that we'll enter into the kingdom, folks. It ain't meant to be a cakewalk. Some people like Paul were actually called to a ministry of suffering. That's exactly what Paul had to do.

[20:04] He had to suffer for the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ. Yes, he preached the gospel and that was part of his ministry. Yes, he went to a lot of places and that was part of his ministry.

[20:16] But all in all, he was called to a ministry of suffering for the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ. And if Paul, as faithful as he was to the word, as faithful as he was to Christ and as holy of a man as he was, if he had to suffer, what makes us think that we won't? What makes us think that we won't?

[20:39] But here Paul's saying, the Lord, he says, the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and he will keep you from evil, a man that experienced a whole lot of evil in his life, a man that was once upon a time one of those wicked and one of those unreasonable.

[20:58] Where was Paul headed when he got saved? He was headed to Damascus to do what? To persecute the church, to persecute the believers, to throw them in jail.

[21:08] He done rounded up the papers, had permission from his higher-ups. He was going to persecute the church. He was unreasonable and he was wicked and he was evil. God stopped him. God stopped him in this track to praise God.

[21:23] Blinded the man and he showed him what things that he needed that he would suffer for his name's sake, for the sake of Jesus Christ and for the for the name's sake of Jesus Christ. But it doesn't mean that all evil is going to be, we've got a force field of some kind around us.

[21:43] Now listen, I understand what it means to pray a hedge of protection and I believe that. Praise God, I pray it plenty of times with myself. Not only for myself but for other people, for those that I love, for this church, for my family, for friends, for all kinds of people. I pray hedges of protection around those people. I understand that.

[22:04] But it doesn't mean that evil will not exist in our lives because it will. Why is that? Because evil exists in this world. When Adam and Eve, when Adam and Eve fell in the garden, when sin came in, when sin entered in, what were they put there for to begin with? They were put there to dress them to keep the garden Adam was. And Eve was there because God looked down, he saw it wasn't meat that Adam should be alone.

[22:34] So he made a help meat for him in a woman, Eve. But when sin creeped in, what happened? They lost the inheritance of planet earth. Earth was theirs. Now God created it and it was God to understand that. But he had made man to keep the earth.

[22:50] They lost that. They lost it. And because they lost it, we did too. Who owns it now? God owns it, I understand that God created it.

[23:01] But who's got power over it? Satan does. Satan, that's why the Bible refers to him as the prince of this world. The Bible refers to him as the prince of this world.

[23:14] Folks, he ain't prince in the world to come. And he's only prince here with what God gives him permission to be prince owner. He's on the leash. God keeps him on that leash. He can't do nothing that God doesn't allow him to do. You read the book of Job sometime.

[23:28] Hey, everything that Satan wanted to do to Job, he had to go to God to get permission to do it. He could have never struck Job with the swords that he had. That God not giving him permission to do so.

[23:39] He could have never taken Job's family from him. That God not giving him permission to do so. He will keep the evil one from us. He will keep our adversary from us, yes. And he, but folks, he establishes our goings. Here in the scripture it says, the Lord is faithful who establishes you. Folks, he's established us already. He's established us on that straight and narrow way. He's established us in the holy walk.

[24:06] He's established us with commission. He's established us with his Word. He's established us with the Holy Ghost. And if we have faith in an ever faithful God that he has established us, why would we not believe that he will keep us from the evil? Absolutely believe it. Absolutely believe it.

[24:28] First form, we have confidence in the Lord touching you. That you both do and will do the things which we command you. We have confidence not in the people, not in the people. We have confidence in the Lord touching you. That you both do and will do the things which we command you. We have confidence in this ever faithful God that he just spoke about in the previous verse.

[24:54] We have confidence in the Lord, in the Lord touching you. We have confidence in the Lord touching you. That you both do and will do the things which we have commanded you. We have confidence in this God and the God that has established you and the God that will keep people from you and the God that you're praying to. That his Word will have free course and the God that we've asked you to pray to. That he deliver us from the unreasonable and the wicked man. We have faith in this God. We believe in this God and touching you. That you do, that you presently do, and you will continue to do the things which we have commanded you to do. Why would they have commanded them to do anything?

[25:38] Because they were preaching the Word. They came into Macedonia and they preached the Word and these Thessalonians, they would have heard that Word. They would have heard the commands coming from that Word. Not to mention Paul had already written one letter to him.

[25:55] He'd already written Thessalonians five chapters worth a day of instruction for that church to follow. He says that we have faith in God. We have faith in the Lord. We believe that God and touching you, that you do right now and that you'll continue to do what we have commanded you to do. Folks, if we come into church, I don't care if you spend a decade in church or if you spend 10 days in church or 100 years in church. If you come into the church house and you don't continue to do the things that you once did, and you don't continue to grow in the Word of God. If you don't continue to do what you did in the past, folks, there's a problem in your work with God. There's a problem in the faith that you say that you have in God. There's a problem in salvation if that's the issue and the problem is not with God, not with this plan.

[26:53] The problem is within us. If that's the case, they says we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that you both do and will do the things that we command you, and the Lord direct your heart into the love of God, and the patient waiting for Christ, the Lord direct your hearts. In other words, don't let man do it. Paul at this point, I'm sure it already received word from other places of day of being, where the the the Judaizers came in, the false prophets came in, the Gnostics had come in, all these other people had come in, and they had started to pervert the Word of God that Paul had preached, that's what happened with the Church of Corinth, that's what happened in the churches in Galatia, that's what happened at all those churches, was these people came in, they said Christ is fine but you need this.

[27:52] Christ is all great and fine and well but you also need to do this or that, or you need to not do this or that. No folks, it is Christ alone, it is Jesus alone, it is faith alone in that Jesus Christ, in the Lord, in the Savior, it is He and He alone which can save us. Paul here says the Lord direct your hearts, the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ, he says the Lord direct your hearts in these things. In other words, Paul hey you just got through saying that you do and you will do the things that we commanded you, what was he commanding that you believe in God, that you believe Jesus Christ, that you believe in He and He alone for salvation, that's the things that the guys, the things that Paul would have been commanding to the Thessalonians but he says he says here that the Lord direct your hearts in this state, the Lord direct your hearts down that straight and narrow path, the Lord direct your hearts and the life and life everlasting, the Lord direct your hearts and all of these things. Paul had done as much as he could in preaching the gospel, the rest was up to all about

[29:00] God. He says the Lord direct your hearts, the Lord direct the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. This is something that Paul had had to address with the Thessalonian church, the patient waiting for Christ. This was one of the things that caused confusion in that church. You read about him previous to this in his letters to the Thessalonians. They were unsure about the coming across, about the second coming across.

[29:34] They thought that it was going to happen just immediately and folks hey it could have, it could happen right now, it could have happened in 1950, it could have happened in 1750.

[29:45] Nobody knows the day nor the hour when Christ will come but they thought it was going to happen just lickety split. So what was happening? People were stopping their jobs, people were quitting their jobs, they were quitting growing things, they were quitting everything, waiting for Jesus Christ, waiting on him to come. Paul addresses that throughout the the rest of the third chapter of Thessalonians.

[30:11] We won't get into that but he said and this is something that he had already addressed with this church but he says the Lord director of the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ. In other words we need to wait on Christ with patience.

[30:27] What did Jesus say in the book of Mark? He said pray and watch. Pray and watch. Now does that mean that I should be on my knees 24 hours a day?

[30:37] Was my eyes pointed straight up at the sky or toward the eastern sky? No, that's not what it means. What do we watch with? We can't watch with our eyes constantly. Hey we get tired, we get sleepy and Lord knows we'll fall asleep sooner or later. We watch with our hearts, we wait with our hearts, we wait patiently with our hearts on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and he says here the Lord direct your hearts and not only into his love but in the patient waiting for Christ. In the patient waiting for Christ he says the Lord direct you in this, the Lord helped you with this.

[31:11] Folks I know I know that going to get people, we get along about us to go home. We get along about us to see loved ones that have gone on. We get a, we might even physically hurt wanting to go home to not only be with them but utmost to be with the Lord who saved our souls. I understand that but the word of God here tells the Thessalonian church and it folks it applies to us just as much that we need to be patient in our waiting on the Lord Jesus Christ. We've got to be patient in these things but while we're doing this what did this passage of scripture begin with?

[31:49] We should be busy in the work of God while we are patiently waiting on Jesus Christ to call us home. Whether it be by grave, whether it be by the rapture, hey I really don't care as long as I make it to that home it's been promised me in the sky one day after a while.

[32:06] I don't care which way I go, I don't care if it's by grave or by the calling up of the people of God it doesn't matter a bit to me I will go home because God has promised me a home up yonder.

[32:22] Hallelujah! And I got to be patient in that waiting and I got to be busy, I've got to be busy in the work of Almighty God while I'm doing that. That's what frustrated Paul with the Thessalonian church. More or less you read his letters when he hears about everybody just dropping everything and waiting on Jesus. When he hears about that Paul you can tell in his writing he's a little bit aggravated he's a little bit perturbed over that and rightfully so why because I'm sure the man had gone and preached the truth I'm sure he had preached the truth these people have come to believe and I'm sure they had concocted in their own minds what was going to happen and all that takes is one person to start spreading it start spreading it's where false teaching comes in, where false prophets coming in, that's where disillusioned congregations come in. There are entire congregations of people out there that listen to one man preach Sunday after Sunday and Wednesday after

[33:27] Wednesday or Thursday or Tuesday or whatever the case is and listen to him service after service after service and the entire congregation that has been fooled by this one man.

[33:39] The Bible says that Satan sometimes appears as an angel of light and there are entire there are droves of people that are that are fooled into thinking that what they are hearing is truth these people had obviously heard the truth because he was writing to them as believers he was writing to a bunch of believers in Jesus Christ so they had to have heard the truth now he says he said the Lord direct your heart into the love of God into the patient waiting for Christ. He's reminding them of something that he's already told them. He's reminding them patient waiting for Christ patient waiting Paul and speaking to a bunch of people that thought that the rapture was going to take place any second thought Jesus Christ was going to come he's going to step out on them clouds he was going to call his people up he says no you be patient in your waiting those people had no clue that they would all die before that ever happened no clue folks we don't know we don't know if we will die we don't know if Jesus is going to call us home along with along with several million other of our brothers and sisters all at once we don't know how that's going to happen that's why it pays to be ready that's why that's why it pays to take heed to the word that's why it pays to pray it pays to pray for the for these people to go out and that the word of God not be hindered that the that the word of God have its free course and that we pray for deliverance from these these wicked people I mean my goodness you know this is the same type of people that Jesus come into contact with over and over in his ministry the same people that Paul come into contact with

[35:25] Jesus I mean how many times do we have that the scribes and the Pharisees will come to come at Jesus and they would ask him questions or they try to trap him or they just outright tell him he was a blasphemer my goodness look at the gospel of Mark you start out in Mark chapter one with the with the baptism and and you continue on to Mark chapter two you got Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law you got him healing a leper you got him healing a man with the palsy he's got all these things going on that that the Old Testament scriptures pointed directly at him as Messiah he was performing miracles that Messiah was prophesied to perform and when it come to healing a certain man he said he said your sins be forgiven thee and they put it they say who has power to forgive sins other than God and folks they came at him it says that the scribes came at him and what did he tell him and what did they say they said he's he's casting these demons and these devils out by be yours above and Jesus told them he said how can Satan cast out Satan how can a house stand against itself that house shall fall how can a kingdom stand against itself that kingdom shall fall he told him all these things why was he saying that because evil men wicked men and those that were unbelieving those that were unreasonable like I said these were Jews

[36:58] Jewish scribes Jewish scribes those that wrote out the laws those that make copies of it and those that that helped to interpret what it was saying the scribes they came after Jesus yeah and they should have known before anybody else before even the Pharisees knew they should have known this is Messiah this is Messiah that is Isaiah prophesied of this is the Messiah that the Psalms prophesied of they should have known yet they came at Jesus they came at Jesus and said well who are you to do these things who are you you're casting these demons out by be else above by the prince and devils the prince of demons and Jesus said how could I do that says how can I do that but these same people these unbelievers these these that are unreasonable and these that were wicked were coming after Jesus if they came after Jesus or the same ones that came after Paul the same type they came after Paul folks it's the same people that went after martyr after martyr after martyr and while we're here in the church age beginning beginning in the in the first century church with a man named Stephen there is countless martyrs and it's been all the same type of people unreasonable and wicked that have that have murdered the people of God yet I guarantee you none of those that were murdered including Stephen the first murder for the gospel of Jesus Christ

[38:29] I guarantee you he would not look down and say God didn't keep evil from me I guarantee you he wouldn't say that or Stephen what did he say as they as they took up stones to kill him what did he say says Lord forgive them same thing Jesus said they don't know what they're doing he said Lord I pray that you lay not this sin to their charge you lay not this they're about to murder me God I pray that you lay not this sin to their charge in other words he was praying for salvation for those that were about to kill me folks Jesus Christ talk about unreasonable and wicked and evil men Jesus Christ at any time Jesus Christ could have done something to to the egg and the womb of the mother of the Roman soldiers that nailed him to the cross he could have said you know I've had all eternity to prepare for this but I've decided not to go through with it that talks about the faithfulness of God right there exactly what verse three talks about here in this short passage of scripture that talks about faith once because he knew from the beginning what what he was going to be doing he knew from the beginning

[39:41]  John's all in the book of Revelation is a land slain before the foundation of the world before the foundation of the world Jesus Christ knew from the beginning what he would be doing he could have stopped it at any point and listen his 33 years here on this earth that was just a spot compared to eternity man that was just that was a blink compared to eternity but he had had all eternity coming up to that point where he could have at any time put an end to it he could have at any time changed his mind had he wanted to but my god is faithful my god is faithful he knew that would be his job he knew that he would have to come here and work salvation for us he knew that it was God's plan God's perfect plan for salvation that Jesus Christ be the one that wrote that salvation for all of mankind he could have stopped it at any point but he chose not to that's the faithfulness of my god that's the faithfulness of him some men have not the faith not all men have faith but God is faithful folks let the Lord direct your hearts in the love of God and the patient waiting for Jesus Christ like I said we all get anxious we all talk about going home some of you have been this walk a whole lot longer than what I had and and I know you've yearned for it because I have so if I have no longer than I've been in it I know you all have be patient for it be patient patient and the waiting for Jesus Christ let the Lord direct your heart